ADV NEWS NOV 2023 | DUCATI 698 MONO | TRIUMPH TF 250X | BENELLI BKX300 | HIMALAYAN 452 | CFMoto MTX 

The CF Moto MT is literally the bike I have been hoping Yamaha would make, a Tenere 400.

I am always surprised about the kind of marketing videos for Adventure Travel Bikes. In many videos they are ridden like they are on a rally or hard enduro event. Husqvarna did it the right way with the Norden 901, when they send Lydon Posit on trip through Sweden. That's what those bikes are mostly used for. Sadly they didn't ask me first! ;-)

If the Honda 300 needs a suspension upgrade, those Alps look like they will need it really desperately! Not even a modern upside down fork???

Why would Honda and yamaha not make something like the Kove? Easy, because they have greedy Managers and Stakeholders. Kove has one CEO who loves and is dedicated to make adventure bikes better and bring it to the next level.

A Ducati 698 Mono adventure bike will be my next bike.. I already told the wife..

The more I see it, the more I like the look of the CFMoto 450. If it has half decent suspension it could be a winner. I’m definitely going to check them out when they land here.

Honda pooped the bed with the nx500. Should be a revamp to something similar to a cb500x with the rally raid kit installed. I think the new himalayan is worth getting excited about.

Triumph 450 dualsport please!

If it’s not a single it’s gonna be too heavy.

About the weight of the Kove 800X: did you see the Kove CEO at Eicma personally unmounting a mirror from the bike and putting it in the hand of a journalist? "Feel the weight" he said. 😮 A lot of components on the 800X are made of alu, whereas concurrents made them of steel or even iron. NOTE- Kove offers two versions of the 800X: adventure and pro. Only the second one has these comps out of alu (165 kg dry weight) but it costs more than the sister.

I'm 70 years old, but that Kove 800 gives me a tingling sensation in my pants. Glad to see manufacturers seem to be listening to the riders.

Honda/Suzuki/Yamaha seem to have the best build quality. Also parts availability is a HUGE factor - and aftermarket support.

Nice overview. The 300-500cc dual sport/adventure market is right at the heart of my interests and often overlooked by other commentators. 35 hp and 350 lbs wet sounds like the Goldilocks range to me.

I wonna know what bug crawled up the Italian's a$$ and inspired them to finally make so many off road machines. They was all quiet forever, and now they are all dipping their toes in the DS and ADV market, not that I am complaining. I love to look at these machines, and I am certain I will get a chance when someone buys a Benelli and it breaks down on the trail, giving me the perfect chance to look one over.

Can’t wait to see the CFMOTO 450 and the Himalayan in the flesh looking at something a bit smaller, I think your right about the cove in the videos that I’ve seen there looks like no cat on the exhaust .

The KOVE 450 Rally is the closest to our Unicorn ADV/Dual-Sport bike that I've ridden. Make it a 600-800cc version and they don't ev en need that other bike.

Love to see a Triumph 550+ cc single dual sport with passenger pegs and the fuel tanks from the 890. A de-tuned 450cc would be a bit vanilla on the road so keep it fun with 40+ hp at the wheel and not the brochure.

KTM = Keep taking money. Fool me once KTM…..

Never own a royal Enfield but the new Himalayan 👌 looks great hopefully we get them in new Zealand Cheers

I've ordered a black/gold Himalayan with the tubeless wheels. This is going to replace my CRF300l which I haven't been using much and I want to do some ADV travel around Europe. A bit disappointed with the weight of the Himmy but I don't think it's as bad as it looks as it comes with a load of weighty accessories (centre stand, tail rack, upper crash bars) and a 17l tank. I'm sure with the Rally pack and some other mods you might get it down to 180KG which isn't bad

Yep yep I bloody well was hoping for the NX500 to be more of a statement. I do in fact adore the styling and if I could copy/paste that onto the 750 chassis I would be all smiles. That's to say I do think the NX styling is more 'Transalp' than the actual transalp.

Aside from the Honda nx500 most of these bikes have very little in the way of dealer support. Some are sold by little shops that are a long trip to get to and you might find a "Gone for lunch." sign on the door when you arrive. Come on Japan. I really like the look and philosophy of the new Royal Enfield but we have one little dealership in about a 300 mile radius.

44Hp coupled with 195kg wet = inadequate highway capability. MY old DR had the same Hp but about 30kg less weight and I thought it was a bit gutless loaded up for overtaking etc.

Honda refuses to make a CRF450L Rally, so now my hope is that Triumph will make a 450cc rally/light adventure bike.

I'd like to know more about that Suzuki Vstrom 800 DE........ very interesting.

If Ducati make a 698 dual sport......the trusty old DR650 will be getting traded in😂❤

Last year disappointed? The 800DE and Transalp was introduced.

You captured the contrast in views on the NX500 perfectly. I really like the look of the NX500, in fact they should've gone with that fairing/light set up on the Transalp as well. To me the Transalp has some weird design/layout issues...for one it doesn't have a oil level window on the crankcase? What's with that? Also, that strange oil sump on the bottom plus spoked wheels that are not tubeless? Personally, the NX500 is more appealing.... perhaps in a year or two they will upgrade the Transalp to fix some of the things I mentioned, or they will put spoked wheels on the NX500. Great post as always...keep up the awesome work Down Under.

Great video content and commentary. The 450mt is pretty close to what people are looking for with a slight weight penalty. Ideally a smaller version of the transalp with a 500cc parallel twin under the 170kg wet weight is for me the holy grail.

Another fantastic video! A riders point of view with an adventure / real world perspective. Boggles the imagination what some manufacturers.

I hope Ducati will make an Enduro version of that new mono. That will be the ultimate unicorn

Im still annoyed bmw didn't do an electric front hub drive for the 1300gs. 2 wheel drive up to 20kph how good would that be?

MT 450 is the sound of the people who was crying for years.

Hi, At Eicma there were two 800cc Kove models, one with a steel welded sub frame and one with a bolted on alu sub frame. Maybe the low weight refers to the version with the ally sub frame. Nice channel content 👌

I love that one beam of light hitting your head almost making you look like a cartoon drawing sometimes

Ive owned a benelli zafferano scooter about 5yrs basically no issues. Just bought a trk 502

Shiney side up always

That Ducati is delicious! I'm not into motards but damn, that would be a super fun bike to ride. Yes, convert that baby into an enduro.. Or gosh, make it an adventure bike... 75HP at 195Kg wet? My gosh....

Interesting the new 2024 Honda CRF 450 RL gets no mention. And before people moan about service intervals …oil changes can be stretched to 2000 km …not hard to do. Blows these bigger bikes out of the mud on dirt. Will cruise at 65 mph all day. 135 kg wet . Everyone wants a dirt capable street legal powerful bike . It’s here staring everyone in the face .

looks like 450mt coming here in the 1st quarter, if still no stock for xl750 here I'd consider the mt.

One exemplar of the CFmoto 450 is already sold: the mine one. Already planned to have it in my garage in 2024.

The 450MT has my eye..but if you remember, it EICMA, CFMoto did mention they were also working on a 500cc engine. Which makes me think KTM490 again. As this sounds like it could be the engine KTM rumored that CFMoto would be building for thier 490. So while I dont think KTM will change their mind, this 500cc engine from CFMoto could find itself into the frame of the 450MT...making it a higher powered 500MT from CFMoto. So I may just hold the brakes until next or too maybe see a CFMoto 500MT. But also that revised CBX into the NX has a bunch of upgrades CBX owners wanted, not all, but some. Like the new dash that you can actually see and ready. Lighter wheels. A bit more grunt supposedly. With that, who knows, reliability is key when you are all alone several hundred miles from home.

Ended up selling my KLX300. Don’t think a dual sport is quite for me. But next year I plan on buying another bike new Royal Enfield is at the top of the list atm.

Hey Solid, what about Voge, will they come to Australia with the DS 900 X our affordable BMW?

Not giving any of my money to Chi-Com MF’s

Hey mate, thanks again, always great information. One thing I can't yet find out is whether the ergonomics are the same for the NX500. The CB500X has always been a little cramped for me, and was hoping the NX may be a little better. Thanks again.

CF Moto is starting to look nice!

The 450 motor in the cfmoto ss and nk is well regarded already , this de tune version will be super reliable

No, Honda won't make the NX500 more offroad capable. For that they have the Transalpine!

Would love to hear your take on why Honda hasn’t announced a ‘24 300 or 300 rally. North American site is still showing ‘23 as the new one and at this point in the year…something is up with that. Might know as soon as I buy one they announce something new.

450MT for me. did i see the NK hp to be closer to 50? 44hp on the MT? perhaps adjusted fueling a bit for torque. i want both!

I'm keeping my eyes on the cfmoto 450mt waiting to see price and availability in the USA.. I think this bike will be a US bdr slayer

So, would Triumph fall into the same category as Beta (exemptions due to small manufacturer) where they could slap some lights on their race bikes and call them street legal? (I've got a Beta 430 RR-S that kicks a$$ on any other dual sport I've ever ridden...just wish it wasn't so high (few hours) maintenance...)

I too my heart lies with the adventure in the dual sport bikes but with the newer company stepping in let's hope that people don't think about building 20 30,000 adventure bikes because let's be serious nobody wants to slam that much money on the ground

And I love that more companies are coming out with lightweight adventure bikes come on man 500 600 lb off-road bikes let's be serious you're not trying to up a hill with that much weight

what has happened to SWM ??? I liked the look of the 600 cc single they had . Are those still available?? in the USA??

The Beta 4.0 remind me of BMW G650's. The suspension is fine for travelling. Apperently the engine is Chinese copy. Established companies continue to plant plants for up-and-comers.

Interesting comments on the Kove 800 regarding weight- they made the 450 rally bike at an affordable price- no other manufacturer has done that, so maybe kove are legit on the 800 weight, be nice to have an offering that isn’t an overweight pig like all the other so called middle weight adventure bikes

Obviously we all want our personal preferred specs on production bikes. So here goes: love to have himalayan 452 with 50bhp to make it a great long distance highway ride as well that could comfortably sit on 120 kph with an easily accessible extra 20kph for overtakes. Apparently it can hit140 but not without sime huffing and puffing. Also it is now ride by wire, so where is the cruise control?

G’day Solid. I think the CFMoto 450MT (with high front fender) is the pick of the bunch at this stage. Particularly interested to see a real world comparison between it and the CRF300 Rally.

And strange be told, none of these bikes beat the, time proven, 20 year old, Suzuki DRZ 400 S, SM, or E in power to weight ratio.

1:42 actually i kinda agree with honda nx500 what kinda riding to most riders at the level to buy that bike use it for? It’s mostly road touring with offroad or more significantly bad roads as just a small part of the trip. So ive always felt i could do with worse offroad suspension with better road performance

The Kove 800x rally is the unicorn. Lighter than the 450 crmoto, the engine is a KTM unit, huge 270/250mm suspension travel, semi mid mount 19L tank. Hopefully the price is right. Unfortunately doing some reading on FB groups its going to be over AUD$20k

About cove 800x the pre-orders started in Greece , price is 7795Euros and Yamaha and honda give double of this price for the tenere and transalp. Why is that? Because they sell brand name,they sell after market support , they sell bike with high resale value etc.

The Himalayan 452 is a nice upgrade from the 411. The 411 has many flaws especially in term of quality and reliability. I rode the BS4 version during my trip in Leh-Ladakh. Even though it is a nice bike to ride, there are many little things I can complain about it that can be solve with after market parts such as the rider foot pegs. The main issue with the bike for me was the gear ratios. The first gear was "too short" and didn't have that "overlap" into the 2nd , hence missing that smooth transition while the 2nd gear seems to have too much "overlap" into the 3rd. I think the 452 could be a better bike with a parallel twin setup. Being as it is now, I didn't like that it did not have the "traditional" tail light. Integrating the tail light into the turn signals is a bad idea. The turn signals are built flimsy and can be dislodged easily from simple a fall. The TFT could be better with a rectangular shape, and the headlight is not sufficiently bright. I'm somewhat sceptical on the quality and reliability of the "ride-by-wire" system. During the product launch promotional ride, several riders have pointed out issues on this. The CF Moto 450MT nailed it with their design. I love that it a parallel twin that would make for a smoother ride. Perhaps I have a bias towards "China made" product, so I have concerns over product quality and reliability, and after sales parts and services. I guess I'll wait for someone to do an unbiased long term review before I'd consider getting one (same goes for the Himalayan 452). The Japanese makers are really missing their marks in this segment. I'm hoping that BMW can step up their game from their 310GS soon (this bike didn't actually fit well in this category). I'm looking forward for KTM's iteration in this segment.

Nice review, Solid. I'd love Triumph to do a dual sport but we dual sport riders are a tiny minority of riders. The factories don't consider us because we are not a viable market but we spawn a cottage industry to modify enduros and dual sports into light adv. Here in Europe we have Nomad and Rade. I know Nomad very well. They are two enthusiastic guys with vision, experience and passion but they aren't a factory. I don't know Rade so well, but they seem similar. So, I ask this question. Should we, as a tiny minority of riders support Nomad and Rade, or should we keep praying to the gods of light adv for a factory unicorn? I say we support the specialist little guys and mod our big enduros and dual sports. We've been praying to the light adv gods for twenty years, but our tiny minority interest isn't going to support an assembly line but it will support cottage industries. So support them.

I think Kove have a big problem with PR and translations, the 450 rally bike it's delivering in the US and Uk, people are happy with them, in 1s quarter of the year we will see it in europe. The 800X rally version they explained why they get that weight, alluminuim subframe and a lot of components, even the mirrors, the problem with that bike it's the price tag, they sugested 13000€ and in that price tag theres a lot of compettion, all the big trails. T7, Transalp, DR 800, Tuareg 660, KTM 790 ADV... The MT 450 by cfmoto, i think there's space for weight reduction with aftermarket parts

Cfmoto 650 MT ,14.000 km done,without any defect👍

At 10:41 ,the Benelux cockpit looks like it is crooked if I say it correctly. Like it is crashed and there are no perfect line between dash and handlebar

I wish Beta would put their 390 motor in a light adventure bike.

The only problem i see with CF Moto is the location of service centres, all BMW parallel twins are made in china so i would have no problem owning one

Will Yamaha bring the PG1 to Aust? Honda Postie competitor?

Imagine if motorcycles come with titanium frames, carbon fiber covers it's gonna be so light weight

It this is dual sport why no side stand or is this totally of road

I wonder if the beta bikes are coming to aus?

Nx500 still no rearrack.why ?

I am looking forward for the Kove 800X. What I gathered info: they will use aluminum frame, and the rally does not have passenger foot pegs. Maybe it will be homoglated for only one person?

Even if Kove manages to get their 800X substantially lighter than the 790R it's still going to feel 50lbs heavier without KTM's magic low slung fuel tanks.

That cf 450 is the ktm 490 engine that never was? That’s the unicorn bike that they should have made imho.

I dont understand how triumph making a 250cc dirt bike but 😮 CF moto make the 450mt with no competition from triumph concidering there adventure bike line

beta one looks like bajaj ns200s little tall brother

That ducati is thee most sexy bike I have ever seen...but with its already super tall seat height, put a 21 inch tire on it and it will only be rideable by bigfoot or NBA players. Thats going to be a HUGE issue for Ducati to get the high sales it requires to keep a bike selling. So I think they may try a dual sport version, is dont think it will last. For 80% if us, it will be just too tall. It will make the 37 inch seat height of a DRZ seam like a honda rebel

In regards to the ktm weight vs kove weight, have you ever seen a ktm adv bike go past technology like rider modes, abs systems, trac systems, looks or performance to save weight? Eg, a ktm adv bike that’s lightweight but barebones? No, they will never do that.

what's HONDA’s big problem to make a 500cc a *crossplain* like their 750cc inline-2 .. would've bought it w\o much hesutation.. the flatplane is just TOO OLD .. gods bless CFMOTO

When it becomes time to trade in the CFMoto for another brand bike, what dealership do you believe would do this?

Cf Moto 450 engine wouldn’t be surprised it’s the engine ktm was going to put in there 490 range which got cancelled

Ill go Japanese even secondand bikes over china made ones.

Chronicles, your videos are great quality and very informative. But I can't help thinking you are more of an enduro guy than adventure, given your obsession with weight. Most adventure guys are twenty years older than you and have done their time with tight bush stuff, and want to see the countryside they're traversing, not just a couple of metres ahead of the front wheel. I ride a V Strom 1000 and don't care that it's heavy. Its stable, grunty, reliable and goes anywhere as long as I take my time. But 'anywhere' is mostly double-track in open country so I can take in buff scenery. Weight smeight I say.

Why do Japanese adventure bikes have their rear seat sloping? Only pan America and RE himalyan have flat rear seats

I hope you're wrong about the Kove 800X...

I would put cf moto far more reliable on their own than ktm. Their side by sides and four wheelers are doing as well as their competitors.

Tha Benelli is heavy as crap for a 300.

Shed update?

Not a very high bar of reliability ktm so may as well be Chinese

Anticipating reliability from CFmoto because of their connection with KTM?. 😂 At least it looks far better than anything KTM designs, but KTM is easily the least reliable of any big brands out there.

Don't understand these models are overweight for serious on/off road riding. There was no revolutionary model at this year's eicma once again. Keeway 450 Rally? but it also lacks long intervals like Kove 450 Rally AJP PR7 650 ADV Rally Fantic 450 Rally. Why should it be so damn hard for a single manufacturer to supply a lightweight 450cc-650cc Dual sport or ADV Rally long range, switchable rear Abs Efi 6 gear low tech and reasonable price!

Brilliant video as always Solid its a shame to see the Japanese companies and BMW snoozing with the sub 500cc class. Dad an I had two 390 ktms both rejected riddled with electronic and build issues. I then had a Himalayan 411 epic bike apart from build issues and electrical problems went back for a full refund. 300 Rally after that as with all my japanese motorcycles id had 0 issues. Apart from the rubbish suspension. Im on an 1150gsa at the moment personally i wouldnt buy a Chinese bike due to the ethics at this monent in time till thats sorted (no doubt my phone was made over there but we can only do what we can do), but they are producing the bikes the Japanese motorcycle companies seem relucant to which is a shame.

CFmoto do not own any part of KTM, it's just a partnership & CFmoto now share the same with Yamaha.

those beta alps are seriously ugly

WHY would you compare that Beta to the CRF 300 Rally which has a windscreen. That makes absolutely no sense. Why wouldn’t you compare it to the regular CRF 300? Nevermind you’re just trying to get views!